Priceless
by Lailara
Summary: Dorian's been dead for two months when Darien gets a visitor. Part of the "Silence" universe.


Title: Priceless  
Author: AriellaGiselle  
Rating: PG-13  
Pairing: kind of Darien/OFC: Dorian (She's back!)  
Distribution: My site, QSArchive, FanFiction.Net; anyone else who wants it, ask me.  
Author's notes: This storie belongs to the "Silence" universe. It helps if you read "Dinner with a Siren," "The Rest of Your Life," and "To Shatter the Silence is the Greatest Sin" before you read this, but you don't have to. Darien's POV  
Summary: Dorian's been dead for two months when Darien gets a visitor.  
Disclaimer: I pretty much own everything except Darien Fawkes. He belongs to Stu Segal, SciFi, etc.  
  
*****  
  
I come here every day, Dorian. Bobby thinks I'm just torturing myself. I miss you like hell, though. I guess I feel closer to you here.  
  
Yeah, The Official's taking it easy on me. I don't think I've worked a case in the whole two months you've been gone. I still can't believe you're gone. Have I told you yet today that I love you? Well, I'm sorry if I haven't. I love you, Dori. My apartment is so quiet without you.  
  
I'm so quiet without you. Without your eyes. Your hair. Your smile. You.  
  
You see this? Milner's here. She's sorry she couldn't come to your funeral. She says that she couldn't get away from the city.   
  
I'm going to talk to Miln for a while. But I'll be back, Dori. I promise.  
  
*****  
  
I never expected Milner Brantley to walk into my life at this point in time, but here she is, sitting across from me, sipping her coffee, studying me with those eyes, those clinically psychoanalytical eyes.  
  
"So, how have you been, Dare?" she asks. I bet she'd love to get into my head right now. Figure out why I feel so fucked up.  
  
"Crappy. I miss her, Miln. I sit at her grave every day and cry. I hear her when I'm awake, and I see her in my sleep," I respond, not a little bit of venom in my voice. The venom leaves an aftertaste not unlike diet Coke as the words tumble out.  
  
"I'm sorry to hear that, Dare. I should've made the time to come to Dorian's funeral, and I'm sorry I didn't. I should have been there for you." Her hand slides across the table to rest on mine.  
  
I don't want her pity, so I jerk my hand into my lap, away from her too little too late comfort. "I don't need your pity, Doc."  
  
"I lost a friend, Dare. You've lost your wife. There's nothing wrong with grieving together." She looks as if she's going to cry. God, I didn't mean to make her cry! Why am I so hateful? She's only trying to help.  
  
"I'm sorry, Milner. I didn't mean to snap at you. I'm hurting, you know?" I wince at my pitiful attempt at an excuse, and she sees right through me, like she always did.  
  
"That's no excuse, Darien." She picks up her napkin and twists it awkwardly in her fists. I suppose she's trying to keep herself from decking me. Not that I don't deserve it. "I quit, Darien. I sold my office and moved out of my apartment. I don't love my work like I used to."  
  
I stare at her. I can't believe it. She loves being a shrink. Why would she quit?  
I ask her why, and she just shrugs. "I can't help others when I don't even like what I do anymore." She smiles that old wistful smile and continues, "Besides, I always was a better thief than a therapist."  
  
Aw, crap. She wants to get back together. As partners. How do I tell her that I have a partner? And I'm a fed.  
  
"Um, Miln? I've got something to tell you."  
  
She opens her eyes and cocks her head to the side. "What, Darien?"  
  
"I can't get back with you. I work for the government now."  
  
She looks at me, expressionlessly, and smiles. "I know. I don't want to get back into the thieving business yet. I've still got money from '98, don't you?"   
  
"Well, yeah. About half of it, really. Wait, how did you know I'm a fed?!"  
  
"I still talk to people out here, ya know. I know you're working with a former patient of mine, too."  
  
"Bobby? He was a patient of yours?"  
  
She nods. "One of my very first. I wasn't his first shrink, by any means, but he's good people."  
  
Now it's my turn to nod. We sit and talk about what we've been up to, what plans we have, general getting-to-know-you-again stuff. Then she breaks out with the seriousness.  
  
"Darien, I got a job offer out here. You wouldn't happen to know a Charlie Borden, would you?"  
  
I think my eyes are going to pop out of my head. "Yeah, he's my boss."  
  
"Well, he called me about two weeks ago. He said that he wanted a clinical psychologist on staff. Something about budgets and something else about crazy agents. Anyway, he said that he would make sure that I would be given a badge and a gun and full government access. I asked him how much he'd pay. He said something like GS-7, I guess. I don't know."  
  
GS-7?! I'm the freakin' Invisible Man, and the shrink's gonna get paid more than I am...   
  
Life sucks.  
  
"So, did you accept?" I ask.  
  
She smiles, "Of course I accepted! I don't care about the shrink stuff, but this guy said I'd probably be working more with his top two agents, anyway."  
  
"Top two agents?"  
  
"Yep. You wouldn't happen to know who he's talking about, would you?"  
  
"Uh, yeah. That would be me and Hobbes." God, I wish I had a camera. The look on her face is hilarious. Gas to get to the coffee shop: two dollars. Coffee: three dollars. The look on Milner's face when I tell her who she's going to be working with: Priceless.  
  
*****  
  
FIN~ 


End file.
